Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX 28) announced that his bipartisan legislation to increase government efficiency and decrease waste is one step closer to becoming law, after H.R. 2142, the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act of 2010 passed the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

This bipartisan legislation would increase transparency and accountability by requiring federal agencies to establish performance goals that can be measured and reported to Congress and taxpayers.

"Its great news that the Senate committee has come together in the spirit of bipartisanship to move forward a bill that would dramatically improve efficiency in the federal government," said Congressman Cuellar. "No one can afford to waste money- especially not the government and especially not now. Better information yields better results, and this bill will help us invest in what works and fix what doesn’t."

As a State Representative in Texas, Congressman Cuellar helped pass similar legislation, which has successfully set forth standards for government-wide strategic planning in their state budgets.

Congressman Cuellar’s performance-based budgeting bill is a major part of the Blue Dog Coalition’s Blue Dog Blueprint for Fiscal Reform. Taxpayers for Common Sense, Center for American Progress Action Fund and Robert Shea, Associate OMB Director under President George W. Bush also support H.R. 2142.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee unanimously passed the Cuellar-authored bill with a bipartisan amendment from Sens. Lieberman (I-CT), Carper (D-DE), Collins (R-ME), Voinovich (R-OH) and Akaka (D-HI). On June 16, 2010 the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 2142.

The bill is next expected to see action on the Senate floor when the Senate reconvenes in November.

To view a fact sheet on Congressman Cuellar’s government efficiency bill, please visit:

/UploadedFiles/Cuellar_Better_Budget_Bill_Fact_Sheet.pdf